Photo Gallery: Volunteers clean up Fort St. Pierre

Published 7:29 pm Saturday, November 24, 2018

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Kyle Hall picks up a beer bottle buried under brush during the cleanup of the Fort St. Pierre site Saturday. Around 12 volunteers joined together to remove the trash and debris spread around this historical site. (Courtland Wells/The Vicksburg Post)

Shannon Campbell picks up bottles during the cleanup of the Fort St. Pierre site Saturday. Around 12 volunteers joined together to remove the trash and debris spread around this historical site. (Courtland Wells/The Vicksburg Post)

Addie Dickerson, left, and Benjamin Lobred pick up debris during the cleanup of the Fort St. Pierre site Saturday. Around 12 volunteers joined together to remove the trash and debris spread around this historical site. (Courtland Wells/The Vicksburg Post)

Shannon Gilmore walks down a hill after picking up trash during the cleanup of the Fort St. Pierre site Saturday. Around 12 volunteers joined together to remove the trash and debris spread around this historical site. (Courtland Wells/The Vicksburg Post)

Shannon Campbell picks up trash during the cleanup of the Fort St. Pierre site Saturday. Around 12 volunteers joined together to remove the trash and debris spread around this historical site. (Courtland Wells/The Vicksburg Post)

Shannon Gilmore places a scoop of trash into a bag during the cleanup of the Fort St. Pierre site Saturday. Around 12 volunteers joined together to remove the trash and debris spread around this historical site. (Courtland Wells/The Vicksburg Post)

About a dozen volunteers turned out Saturday to clean up the Fort St. Pierre historic site on Highway 3.

The Fort St. Pierre Tricentennial Planning Commission, an organization planning the 300th anniversary of the building of Fort St. Pierre on the Yazoo River, has been working to clean up the site. The fort, which was built in 1719, is one of two sites from the French and Indian period to be designated National Historic Landmarks in Mississippi.

The site, which is also home to Civil War earthworks, is located off Mississippi 3, south of International Paper. It is marked by a bronze plaque that has been blackened by age and the weather. Access to the site is a paved road that was once the access to the St. Peter bridge, which was razed in the mid-1960s. And it has at times been the site of illegal dumps.

About Courtland Wells

Courtland Wells is a staff photographer at The Vicksburg Post. He is a native of Tuscaloosa, Ala. and graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in Photojournalism. Following graduation, he started at The Vicksburg Post in the fall of 2016. Courtland has won numerous awards through the Mississippi Associated Press Managing Editors and the Mississippi Press Association. His work has also been featured in the New York Times and Washington Post as well as other national publications. Courtland is a member of the Vicksburg Young Professionals.

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